02 July, 2015

Review – Total War: Attila, The Last Roman, The Skies Darken Over The Last Roman

By
Kyle Shimmin

After countless seasons of battle and hard campaigning I
return with word of The Last Roman and for the most part, it’s pretty positive.

The Last Roman

Total War: ATTILA’s first expansion, The Last Roman, promises
to shake up its campaign dynamics with the introduction of the Roman Expedition;
a horde effectively. Led by the proven general Belisarius, the Roman Expedition
begins its path to conquest on the shores of North Africa, south of Carthage.
Armed with just two armies, ranks thick with Foederati, Belisarius has been
tasked with reclaiming the lands of the fallen Western Roman Empire, by Emperor
Justinian. Lands now settled by the once nomadic tribes; the Vandals control
part of North Africa, the Visigoths Hispania, the Ostrogoths hold Italia, and
itself Rome. The map is large, detailed, and ripe for conquest, as you can see
below.

The Last Roman completely shifts the behaviour of the
Romans, in an interesting, though not entirely original way. Whereas, my time
with the Roman Empire(s) in the Grand Campaign of ATTILA was almost entirely
defensive; whether beating back hordes of foreign barbarians or clashing with
traitorous Roman separatists. The Expedition is almost exclusively offensive,
capturing town after town in the name of the Roman Empire. The Expedition
doesn’t occupy the conquered regions though; they are reclaimed and handed over
to Justinian’s Empire. A few Legions of which follow behind the Expedition,
reinforcing the front line, those Legions don’t really help the Expedition or even engage rebels in the Empire’s own lands from what I can tell. Rather frustratingly,
regions I had captured and left in the Empire’s hands, specifically in Africa,
fell to rebellion and the Empire’s forces didn’t seem to react.

As with ATTILA’s hordes, the Expedition armies require a
well-developed camp to fund and support themselves, Emperor Justinian will foot
the bill for a few turns, but ultimately maintaining the Expedition falls to
Belisarius. The Expedition’s reliance on the camps is greater than that of the
hordes; they are reclaiming, not looting or sacking settlements, thus not
receiving the spoils of conquest. Additional funding is provided through
missions of course, which are exponentially more interesting in The Last Roman.

The missions come as long (text-based) messages and requests
from Emperor Justinian, Belisarius’ wife Antonina, and Justinian’s wife
Theodora. Each have their own agendas, rewards, and penalties, for example;
ignore a request from Theodora and the Expedition may find its funding
decreasing. Or, go out of the way to placate Antonina and the army may lose its
integrity, its belief in Belisarius’ leadership. Rewards may come in the form
of fresh armies from the East, new adopted family members, or simply hard cash.
These missions and messages are a more effective way of bringing the political
strife of the Empire and its courts to light, when compared to the standard
politics system. I found myself wishing that the political occurrences in the Grand
Campaign were as fleshed out as the missions here, or even that the other
factions in The Last Roman had an equivalent, because sadly they do not. The real
issue though, is that there are simply not enough. By the time I had wrapped up
the conquest of Africa, quite early on, the missions had completely dried up.
I’m not sure if it was a bug or designed that way, but the sudden absence of
story was disappointing nonetheless.

A quick aside, early on in the campaign, the skies darken and ash rains down. This is a result of an Indonesian super-volcano
that erupted during that period of time (or so I’m told); of course the Romans
have no idea of the cause. The ash
darkens both the campaign map and the battlefields, lasting around ten turns. It
is an appreciated touch; the lack of sunlight adds a pinch of apocalypse to the
already diminished Roman people.

I bless the ashes down in Africa.

Rather than reclaiming settlements for the Empire, the
Expedition can strike out on its own and become independent, forming the
Kingdom of Rome. I saved my game quite late into the campaign, achieved the
loyalist victory conditions and watched the cutscene play out at twelve frames
per second – campaign videos always seem to – then reverted back to my earlier
save and played out the separatist path. I had positioned my armies around
friendly Roman settlements in Northern Gaul, and struck, taking four of them in
the same turn I declared independence. Yet even with four quite well-developed
settlements, I was still haemorrhaging a huge amount of money each turn; by
claiming land as my own I lost all the army camps. Thus began the only truly
challenging part of the campaign; I had to simultaneously disband large
portions of my army, redevelop multiple settlements, and beat back the three
Roman Legions that had shadowed the Expedition throughout the campaign. Once my
savagely red economy was fixed, I turned the armies south and begun retracing
their paths to capture the campaign map for a second time. It was pretty
great.

Bucellarii storm the streets of Ravenna.

With new factions in a new period comes new units.
Reflecting the late-period Roman military, the backbone of the Expedition and the Empire (which isn’t playable) consists largely of Foederati, which can later be developed
into Skutatoi, coming with both spear and axe variants, alongside the standard
sword infantry. Hailing from the East,
the Expedition boasts excellent heavy cavalry; Cataphractii, Clibanarii, and
the finally the new Bucellarii, described as ‘Guard Cavalry’; they wield spear
and bow from armoured horseback. On the skirmishing side of things, the
Expedition has a selection of horse archers, including Hippo Toxotai. I found
the roster to be pretty flexible, supporting the style of play I enjoy.The Ostrogothic Kingdom, who now hold Italia have gained
access to some new, Roman-inspired units; the core infantry are Milites, which can
be later developed into Milites Comitatenses, of both sword and spear variety.
They can also recruit Veterans and the Elite Domestici, alongside the powerful
Scholae cavalry. However, the other playable barbarian factions; the Vandals,
Franks, and Visigoths, aren’t as fleshed out. Sadly, the Roman Empire, the
African Berbers, and the Moors are not playable at all – the Steam Workshop
community has of course rectified that, if you choose to mod the game.

The Last Roman introduces some interesting dynamics to the
campaign structure of ATTILA. While the Roman Expedition itself is little more
than a glorified horde, the reclamation mechanic allows for an unrelenting
pace; conquest at the speed of barbarian pillaging. It is a satisfying twist,
especially for the Romans who in my experience, spent most of their time
defending and retreating in ATTILA. The deeper missions and storytelling may
only surface as text but I found the intrigue and politics far more engaging
than that of ATTILA’s Grand Campaign. However, it is hugely disappointing that the story and missions only
last a few early years of the campaign, and the other,
barbarian factions don’t even get that much.